A "Brazilian Cancun", a huge complex of hotels and apartment towers in the bay of Angra dos Reis , one of the best preserved areas of the southern coast of Rio de Janeiro, called Costa Verde for the jungle that covers its mountains . It is the dream of President Jair Bolsonaro and one of his latest obsessions. Since May, he constantly repeats his intention to end by decree with the Estação Tamoios natural park to allow tourism development in the area.

This particular reserve consists of 29 islands and islets of the highest ecological value and great beauty : crowned coconut palm rocks, white sand coves and an emerald green water that reflects the mountain jungle. Access to these islands is prohibited, as is fishing; boats cannot even anchor in its waters: a paradise for dolphins, turtles and hundreds of species of fish. They can only be accessed for scientific purposes.

The reserve also serves as a depreciation zone for a nearby nuclear power plant. Tamoios Park occupies just 5% of the total of Angra Bay, where there are hotels and tourism so far based on a sustainable model. The president says that there are businessmen from the Arab Emirates, Japan and Israel willing to invest "billions" to build in the area.

"Bolsonaro wants a 'Brazilian Cancun', but he forgets that all the beauty is thanks to the levels of environmental protection we have. Without that, this landscape would have ended long ago," says João Luiz Victal , a marine biologist who works in the reserve since before its foundation, in the 90s. Now, now retired, he has a fish breeding and pedagogical tourism project. Like several environmentalists in the area, João Luiz believes that Bolsonaro's obsession to end precisely this reserve has to do with a kind of personal revenge.

Fines for illegal fishing

Bolsonaro has a house nearby, and in 2012, when he was a deputy, he was fined in this area for illegal fishing ; He was caught with a boat full of fishing gadgets, which cost him a fine of 10,000 reais (2,300 euros) that he never paid. The sanction prescribed, and after his arrival in the Government, the fine was annulled, and the official who fined Bolsonaro, José Augusto Morelli , dismissed. Reserve workers linked to the Ministry of Environment declined to make statements to this newspaper for fear of reprisals.

Amid all the controversy, in June, Unesco declared the bay of Angra dos Reis, Isla Grande and Paraty, a World Heritage Site , highlighting it as "an exceptional example of land and sea use and human interaction with the environment".

The territory recognized by Unesco covers almost 150,000 hectares, where four natural parks coexist between the mountains and the sea, the colonial city of Paraty and several indigenous villages, of traditional fishermen and quilombos, the rural communities where descendants of runaway slaves live.

The main asset of the area is its lush tropical vegetation . Here is one of the last chinks of the Atlantic forest, the jungle that covered the entire coast of Brazil and much of South America and now only occupies 12% of its original territory.

"Unesco's title is very valuable, but the president ignores any law, does not obey anyone, is vindictive and governs with hatred. His strategy is to destroy all the legal frameworks of our country," says Ivan Marcelo Neves , one of the veteran activists in the area and member of the Socio-Environmental Institute of the Bay of Isla Grande. Despite the distrust, he hopes that international recognition will serve as a tool of pressure against developmental plans.

"Chainsaw Captain"

In the tourism sector, they fear that the president's ambition will end up killing the golden egg hen, which last year attracted more than 1.6 million tourists . From the Angra City Council they want to believe that Bolsonaro actually refers to making environmental laws more flexible, not so much to fill this almost virgin coastline with concrete. "The people here, the public power and the businessmen, we don't want a Cancun in Angra, we want to generate employment and quality of life but knowing that our main product is the environment," says the head of Tourism of this town, João Wylly Seixas , pointing out that the laws should be revised to make it easier for investors who have a more 'ecofriendly' vision. In his opinion, too many restrictions end up stimulating illegalities.

While the future of Estação Tamoios is defined, Bolsonaro continues in his verbal escalation against the environment and the "industry" of fines. A few days ago, he joked self-proclaimed "chainsaw captain" after the rain of criticism for answering official data pointing to a vertiginous increase in deforestation in the Amazon.

When asked about the controversy of the already famous 'Brazilian Cancun', he replied that "the environmental issue only concerns vegans who eat vegetables" and that if I wanted to do "an evil" I could go to Angra Bay one night or one Weekend and commit an environmental crime without being fined.

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